BANNED! SECOND-HAND CLOTHES NOW LINKED TO DRUG CARTELS, Minister says bales smuggle more than jackets – they hide drugs and bed bugs!

Sikhumbuzo MoyoSECOND-HAND clothes are out and Government says it’s not just about fashion Behind the piles of cheap shirts and jeans lurks a dark underworld of drug smuggling.Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe told Bulawayo City councillors and management on Friday that the ban on selling second-hand clothes is part of a crackdown on drug kingpins using the trade as cover.Earlier this week, Minister Garwe announced a blanket ban on the sale of second-hand clothing and night vending across Zimbabwe This follows an import ban on used clothes by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in October last year “The bales coming into the country are hiding drugs

Some are even bringing in bed bugs — we saw that in Harare recently,” Garwe revealed.The Minister said the flood of used clothes has also killed the cotton industry, leaving thousands jobless and shutting down once-thriving Bulawayo clothing factories.He described the illegal trade as a security threat and warned that some vendors were “slippery operators” who never stayed in one place, making them hard to catch “These are the people bringing drugs into our communities,” he said “Night vending and second-hand clothes stalls are being used as a cover for cartels feeding the substance abuse crisis destroying our children.”Garwe stressed that Government respects honest vendors for their role in the economy, but promised no mercy for those using vending to peddle poison.Share on FacebookPost on XFollow usSave

Originally published on Zimbabwe Herald

Source: Zimbabwe Herald